


The Hallway

by AidenFlame



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, First Dates, Flash Fic, Guilt, Moving On, Old Married Couple, Past Character Death, Past Relationship(s), Widowed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2014-06-30
Packaged: 2018-02-06 21:24:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1872990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AidenFlame/pseuds/AidenFlame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>68 year old Edward is about to go on his first date since his wife's death, 14 years previous.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hallway

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this one about 3 years ago, for a university Creative Writing assignment. I'm mostly just putting it here to preserve it, cuz so many of my files are becoming corrupted :/

The hall clock reads 6.57pm. I glance downwards from it, and catch the eyes of my wife, staring into my own.

 ‘I’m sorry my love.’

 _No need to be darling, I understand_  
‘You’d have liked her Maria, you two would have got on like a house on fire, she reads those Catherin Cookson books you love, and she is an avid Corrie fan, and she collects those little china houses you had so many of, and-‘

_Its okay, Edward. It’s alright. She sounds like a nice woman, just what you need in your life now._

‘I’m so sorry Maria, I’m lonely, I need someone. I’m sorry.’

_I understand, it’s alright. She sounds perfect for you, and company is what you need now my love._

‘YOU’RE what I need right now! YOU’RE perfect for me!’

I stride over to the dresser and slam the photograph of my wife face downwards. I had been about to unhook my coat from the stand, and leave the house, when I had caught sight of Maria’s picture on the hallway cabinet. All the guilt I had been spending all day suppressing, had flown out all at once. How can I go on this ‘date’ tonight?  
My first date in the fourteen years since Maria’s death.  
Of course, I had spoken to my Sons about it a few days earlier. Stan, my eldest was all for it, and said it’s what his mother would have wanted, rather then me hiding myself away indoors. ‘You’ve got to start a new chapter in your life, rather then dragging along this one’ he had said.

I turn, and catch sight of myself in the mirror. I can’t leave my date waiting for me, and I not arrive. That’d be ungentlemanly. Although, I don’t really feel like a gentleman in this attire. Smart-casual. What _is_ smart-casual? Never existed in my day. On my first date with Maria, I wore a suit and tie. Maybe I should wear a tie? No, I don’t have one that’d suit this checked shirt. Checked shirts and smart trousers, that’s smart-casual isn’t it? I don’t want to show her up by being over dressed… Unless I’m under-dressed? I’ve got a feeling in my stomach that I haven’t felt since I was nineteen, about to leave to pick Maria up for our first date. It was a cold night, I remember. I lent her my coat when I walked her home. No, I must stop thinking about Maria. She’s gone now, I need to ‘start a new chapter’. Did I book the table? Yes, yes of course I did. I hope she likes the food… I did ask her opinion on the restaurant, but maybe she was just being polite by agreeing? I need to relax. Maybe some whiskey?

I look at the clock. 6.59. No time for a drink, I need to leave in a minute. I feel a vibration in my pocket as my mobile telephone rings. It’s probably her calling to cancel. Serves me right for thinking of betraying my darling Maria… No, it says Stan sending me a text. I can’t read it though, I still don’t know how to use the blasted thing. Maybe I should call her? No, I can’t cancel on her. Not so late.

_Relax, Edward._

‘Maria…’

I can almost feel her hands on my shoulders, massaging them to help me calm down. ‘I love you Maria’

I love Maria.

I can’t replace her.

But I can move on to something new.

I turn back to face the door, and glance again at the hall clock. 

7 o’clock. Time to be off. Reaching for my coat, I can see the dresser. The picture of my beloved in her tarnished silver prison still down where I placed it. I cannot leave her like that, face down, smiling at the dust. Placing her upright again, I brush my thumb against the glass above her face. I cannot feel guilty for the rest of my days, shy away from contact and a second chance. She wouldn’t want me to wallow away in this house alone.   
I look in the mirror; straighten the collar on my shirt. Breathe in. Breathe out.   
I walk to the door, open it. The cold evening air welcomes me, like that night so many years ago.  
A new chapter.


End file.
